Paper formats according to DIN standard
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In the past, many different paper formats were in circulation. Particularly common were, for example, quarto formats (i.e. a quarter of the sheet) or octavo formats (i.e. an eighth of the sheet).
At the beginning of the 20th century, however, there was growing dissatisfaction with this multiplicity of formats. And so the German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald developed the so-called world format for standardization, but it failed to gain acceptance.
On August 18, 1922, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) for the first time defined standardized values for the width and height of sheets of paper - i.e. for paper formats - in the DIN standard DIN 476.
The ratio between width and height is the same for all sheet sizes, namely 1:√ 2. This is because the next smaller sheet created by folding it centrally over the long side remains geometrically similar to the original sheet.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg specified this aspect ratio as early as 1786, but it then fell into oblivion and was not taken up again until 1910 by Wilhelm Ostwald, until it finally became established as the DIN standard in 1922.
